My wife keeps bugging me to try to make her some of our favorite beer (mostly because of the memories of our trips to a small obscure private island in the Bahamas before we got into the "kid" business), Kalik.

Anyway, this is an extremely light beer, and I suspect it is probably mostly rice or something, but does anyone have a good guess for this beer as a clone? It will give my wife something to drink while my Oatmeal Stout and Black Butte Porter are on tap (not to mention she abhors hoppy beer).

Jeff, I love Kalik. It is not really a great beer, but more of a great thirst quencher. Every trip to the Bahamas means many Kaliks will be consumed. I know you said that your wife does not like hoppy beers, but Kalik is fairly hoppy. I would guess that it is pils with some rice and a touch of light crystal. The hops are mostly in the form of bittering hops, so you would have to experiement on that one. I would try a noble to start. Maybe tettenger.

Also, it is 5% alcohol so plan the OG accordingly.

Lastly, stay away from Kalik Gold! Last year I was in Chub Cay fishing and drinking all day long. When we got to dinner that night we order Kalik gold. It only took two of these things to turn us into blithering idiots. I have no idea how we made it back to our rooms.

These tropical lagers are brewed almost entirely with pale malt and adjuncts. They are all but impossible to duplicate with extract and/or ale yeast.

If you can lager are are willing to make the effort, try 80 percent six-row malt and 20 percent rice for an O.G. of about 1.048. Bitter with a neutral hop (Clusters, for example) to 12-15 IBUs. Aroma hops are not really to style but half an ounce of Saaz per 5 gallons in the last 5 minutes will provide a little more character.

Thanks guys. As the weather turns colder, and reading all this, I'm really longing for our private beach house we rent on Elbow Cay in the Abacos with our own 26' boat to cruise up and down the islands...sigh.